Teachers plan and prepare lessons, attend meetings, help students, create resources, grade assessments, communicate with parents, learn new teaching strategies, learn technology…and the list could go on forever. With so many things to do, I find that thinking of a new way to decorate my room each year can become daunting. Don’t get me wrong, I love decorating my walls and bulletin boards, but it’s the with what that sometimes stumps me. After searching the internet, I discovered some amazing ideas and came up with a few of my own. I divided the ideas up into four main categories – informative, interactive, student work, and motivational. Check out what I found and am using in my classroom this year…
These types of bulletin boards display information that provides students with visual reference throughout the year.
1 – Word Walls Love them! Scaffolded Math and Science has the most amazing ones and she explains why they are so important for high school students on her blog.
2 – Graphing Calculator Reference Sheets
Students constantly forget the steps they need to use on a graphing calculator. These sheets are great for students to put in their interactive notebooks, binder, etc. I hang them up on folders and then place the sheets for my students behind the picture so they are ready to go whenever they need them. Read about them in my blog post or snag them in my store.
3 – Math = Love Blog
All of her ideas are awesome! Her blog is filled with so much creativity, which includes ways to decorate your room with math. I used her Perfect Squares and Perfect Cubes sheets this year and my students were so appreciative, especially for the simplifying radicals quiz. Bulletin boards where students engage with the pieces on the board. There are several types out there, but I found this one to be great for math class. 4 – Boggle Students interact with this vocabulary Boggle bulletin board designed by Math Giraffe. Learn about this idea and how to set up a classroom that works for teens on her blog. This is great for stations, bell ringers, or even early finishers. Lessons with Coffee also has a Boggle bulletin board for math expressions which you can find here.
Show off your student's hard work!!!
5 – Math is Everywhere Every year I use this bulletin board idea from the Middle School Math Man. I have my Algebra 2 and Calculus students think of a place they see or use math in the real world. Then they are to create a sheet that includes one Algebra skill, one Geometry skill, and then one more math skill of their choice (Algebra, Geometry, Statistics, etc.) that ties to the real world setting. I have added a rubric, example, and bulletin board letters for this activity in my FREE Resource Library, so SUBSCRIBE to my email list to get instant access!
6 – iMath resources
A fun spin on student’s favorite iPhone Apps – Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and iMessage. Students add sheets to their phone throughout the school year to show what they know and document their growth. At the end of the year they use it for review before their final exam. Check them out here.
7 – The Fridge
Easy way for student’s to display their hard work! Check out how Scaffolded Math and Science sets it up in her class.
8 – Math Pennants
Scaffolded Math and Science does it again! Her blog is full of fun and witty ideas. These pennants are a way for students to confidently display their knowledge and understanding of math topics.
We can all use some inspiration in life, right?!
9 – Growth Mindset Posters I’m all about GRIT this year, which you can read more about in my blog post on To-Do Lists and True Grit. I used Mrs. E Teaches Math’s growth mindset posters to encourage my students to be gritty. Check them out here.
I hope you found some ideas to use in your classroom! I would love to hear about more cool ways to decorate a math classroom, so send me an email at algebraandbeyond@gmail.com with ideas.
*All photos are from my classroom, unless otherwise noted in the photo caption.
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We often talk about SMART goals with our students and make some for ourselves each year. The whole idea and process of organizing your goals and writing them down is fantastic! But then what?
First, it is critical to make a list of what you want to complete each day in order to work towards that goal. Your list also needs to include additional things that you need to complete that affect other areas of your life, career, etc. Including those things on your list will help you budget your time better and stay organized. I have always been a list maker and love crossing off items as I go through the day. It gives me a sense of satisfaction and purpose. Which leads me to my second thought. How many quality tasks am I actually accomplishing every day, week, month, etc.? Thank goodness for sticky notes! I keep a stack handy to write down all my to-do's and then throw each one away as the task is completed. Sounds logical, right? This video made me think a little differently. Perhaps I was going about it all wrong. Watch the video and then read about how it helped me.
This video made me really think about true grit. It helped me realize that just writing down tasks, completing them and moving on was only a percentage of what goes into achieving goals. I started to realize that I should be documenting my strides and also reflecting on what I am actually doing to accomplish my goals. In other words how gritty am I?
Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to assess your to-do lists and grit:
Did I challenge myself with difficult tasks?
Did I stay focused in order to complete many tasks? Did I problem solve effectively and efficiently?
Let's get out there and not only make SMART goals this year, but also...
Above is the template I will be using this year. It can be used for any area of your life: career, family, home, savings, etc. There are eight bullets for each day. If necessary, you can always add a sticky note on top of a section. Then each completed to-do list will go into a binder. How rewarding will it be to reflect on what has been accomplished, not only weekly, but for the entire school year!
Click on the photo below to download the To-Do List sheets and go get gritty!!!
Check out more posts:
Check Your Work!
I am a big advocate for students always being able to confirm (or disaffirm) their solutions. I constantly remind my students to CHECK their work, whether that means plugging a solution back into the equation or checking on the calculator. And if you’ve read this post, you know I show my students many ways to use the calculator to find solutions. But whatever the method, JUST DO IT and then you will KNOW if you got the correct answer, especially for assessments. If students check their work, it’s impossible for them to get the solution wrong. So, of course my students earn 100% on all their assessments right? Nope. They don’t want to check their work; they just don’t want to do it. Maybe you are thinking, why don’t I just add a “check your work” section to each problem on the assessment? Yes I could do that, but then they would have to do it algebraically, and I don’t want to force them to use that method when they can easily check on the calculator as well. Luckily I figured out another way. It won’t work for every math topic, but it’s super helpful for topics when several methods can be used. It all started with dividing polynomials using synthetic and long division. Every year my students loathed long division and it showed on assessments. How could I give them the confidence to know they are doing the long division properly or at least figure out a way to get the correct solution? It’s actually really simple. Instead of stating “do these four problems using synthetic division and these four problems using long division”, I changed it up and said do these four problems using both methods. I am able to see if they understand both methods AND they are checking their answers! Compare and Contrast What happens if the answers don’t match? This will make it obvious to students that they did something wrong, so they naturally will try to find the mistake and correct it. It pushes them to critically think about their process and how to correct it. Essentially, students are comparing and contrasting the two methods to ensure they get the same result. If they don’t completely understand long division, they can still figure it out by working backwards, if necessary. We know that similarities and differences is one of Marzano’s highly effective instructional strategies. Here is a brief reminder of what this strategy does for our students (detailed list here):
Quiz Time
I have been using this quiz for several years now, and time after time, 80-100% of the students earn an A on it. And no they’re not honors Algebra II classes. In fact, this years’ class included 9th-12th graders with all different skill levels and 18/21 of them earned an A! I get so excited to give this quiz because I know most students will do well since they are checking their answers.
If you use this strategy, it is important to remember to check the process for each method because some students can easily write the same answer for both, but have the incorrect steps. And of course, there is the division of a polynomial by a trinomial where you can only use long division. I do add a part to that question stating they need to check their answer, but didn’t tell them how to do it. I assumed they would multiply the quotient by the divisor. I was very surprised to see several students used other ways, such as dividing the dividend by the quotient using long division or synthetic division. Neat stuff!
Click on the photo above for the free editable quiz.
Practice Activity
Here is a fun partner activity to use as practice before the quiz. Students work on one problem, each using a different method and then confirm their answers with each other. Students alternate methods from problem to problem. They find this challenging at first because it requires them to switch back and forth between methods, but it helps them thoroughly understand each method and retain it.
If you like this idea and want to try it in your classroom, click on the photo above for the free activity.
More Methods
There are several topics in math where you can use this strategy. Here are a few I can think of:
Here are more great activities that compare and contrast math methods:
I am always trying to find fun and easy ways to make math more applicable for my students. The idea of visiting other places is a great way to get their attention. I created a frequent flyer mile template that can be used in any math course that touches on slope, linear equations, or direct variation. The activity can be used with a whole-group, small-group, or even a take home assignment. One of the best features is, it’s set up to give the students lots of choices. They get to choose the airline they use, the dates they fly, and where they are going to travel. Their goal is to find out if they can earn a free flight. Of course, there is lots of math they need to do along the way! Here is how I organize the activity for collaborative, small groups:
FIRST: Create groups of 2 or 3, and give a list of airlines they can choose from. Be sure to check beforehand that the airline has a points program. Some groups can use the same airline, it really doesn’t matter.
SECOND: Have them research their airline to see how the frequent flyer mile program works. This will help them determine what x- and y- should represent and create their equation. I usually pre-determine the goal points they need to earn for the free flight, as that may be more difficult for them to find, but it’s up to you.
THIRD: Now, they get to decide which places they will travel! They will calculate their points along the way. You will observe students discussing places to travel and strategies on how to make sure they travel far enough to earn a free flight.
LAST: Once they are finished traveling, they need to add the total miles (x) they flew and the total points (y) they earned. They will use these numbers as their right endpoint on their graph. It will also help them determine if they earned a free flight. I use a similar model as above for a whole-group activity, except we vote on which places to visit. We have fun googling each place to see how cool it would be to go there! This would even be a good activity to tie into a history course…hmmmm, something to think about for next time. Sometimes taking a break from the standard lesson is a good thing! Grab this FREE activity sheet here:
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